JP7387646B2 - System for displaying optical images - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a system for displaying optical images by unmanned autonomous vehicles, each vehicle having a display for displaying at least a portion of the image according to stored or transmitted image information; A control unit is provided, the control unit being configured to control the image information and move the transport vehicle using the drive unit according to the stored or transmitted position information.

From the prior art, there are known systems that make it possible to present images in the airspace by so-called "drones", also called "Unmanned Aerial Vehicles" (UAVs). The presentation of such images is of particular interest during sporting events, or similar public or private events.

U.S. Pat. No. 9,415,869 B1 discloses a system with multiple UAVs, each UAV supporting a vertically oriented display in the operating position, and the coordinated organization of these displays allows the combined larger A display can be formed. Due to the low payload of UAVs, the display as well as its supporting structure must be particularly lightweight and therefore delicate. The disadvantages of this system are that the display can only be viewed from one side at a time, for example in a sports stadium, and that the system can only interact in a rather limited way with people, for example artists or presenters. That's true.

The invention is based on the problem of providing a system for displaying optical images, which at least reduces the above-mentioned disadvantages and/or limitations.

According to the invention, this problem is solved in that the at least two transport vehicles are configured as land craft, the display of the land craft in the operating position is oriented parallel to a substantially horizontal image plane, and the human is solved by a system configured as an accessible display.

The system according to the invention advantageously allows optical images to be presented by the display substantially horizontally close to the ground, so that for example the images can be viewed from all sides simultaneously in the playing field of a sports stadium. and can be seen clearly and better from the audience seats. Furthermore, people, for example artists or presenters, can approach the display, thereby allowing improved and increased interaction with these people.

In a preferred embodiment, the landcraft display has an equilateral polygonal geometry and is movable by the landcraft and control unit to the at least one substantially seamless parquet stage assembly. and in the stage assembly the display forms at least one accessible and/or walk-on stage. Thus, advantageously one or several movable and changeable interactive stages can be provided, which can be approached and walked by people and artists.

The display advantageously has a regular hexagonal, equilateral triangular and/or rhombic geometry in the image plane. These geometries allow for a good and simple seamless parquet.

The term "parquet" is known to those skilled in the art as "tiling", "paving" or "scrap-free blanking".

In a further preferred embodiment, the system has a control station configured to move the transport vehicle and/or control the image information, the control unit and/or the control station determining the position of the associated transport vehicle. The image information is configured to control the image information based on the information and/or based on the further transport vehicle location information. The image information displayed by the display can thus be adapted to the respective position or image position of the respective transport vehicle.

The positional information and the image information are preferably temporally variable information, and the control unit and/or the control station is configured to control the image information substantially in real time via changes in the positional information. Ru. In this way, on the one hand, movies and/or animations can be shown by the display, and on the other hand, this image information can be displayed in a predetermined manner, for example via a predefined path followed by the transport aircraft, or For example, if the transport aircraft has to perform an obstacle avoidance maneuver, the current position of the transport aircraft can be adapted in substantially real-time in an unscheduled manner.

The display is advantageously constructed as an integral part of the landcraft's housing and/or to be weatherproof.

One landcraft, preferably all landcraft, are advantageously configured as robotic transports and/or with mecanum wheels.

At least one landcraft, preferably all landcraft, advantageously have orientation means for orienting the display to the viewing surface.

In a preferred embodiment, the at least one transport vehicle is configured as an unmanned aerial vehicle, in particular a UAV/drone, a balloon or an airship, and/or the at least one transport vehicle is configured as an unmanned watercraft, in particular a water drone, a submarine drone. , configured as an ocean buoy.

In a further preferred embodiment, the transport aircraft forms at least one swarm flight formation, and the control unit and/or the control station is configured, in particular by a formation flight control unit of the transport aircraft, to control the swarm flight formation. Configured to move the transport aircraft.

Further exemplary embodiments of the invention are illustrated by the following figures of schematic diagrams.

1 illustrates an inventive system according to a first exemplary embodiment; FIG. 2 shows a landcraft of the system invention according to FIG. 1; FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an example of a stage assembly with seamless parquet using a system according to the present invention; FIG.

FIG. 1 shows a schematic diagram of a system 1 according to a first exemplary embodiment of the invention for providing an optical image 2. FIG. The image 2 is presented by the display 3 via stored or transmitted image information. The display 3 may consist of a large number of image points/pixels and be based on at least one of the following technologies: LCD, LED, OLED, quantum dots, "In-Glass" Can be done. Each display/all displays 3 can present the entire image 2, which means that all displays 3 present the same thing, ie the image 2. Alternatively, all displays 3 could present image 2 together, for example by each display 3 presenting a particular part of image 2, and the sum total of all parts, i.e. all displays 3 forms the entire image 2. Alternatively and/or additionally, two or several displays 3 may present specific parts of the image 2 and/or different images 2.

Furthermore, a part of the image 2 may additionally be presented by a light element 4, for example by illuminating a semi-transparent screen by a light source (LED, laser), as shown by way of example in FIG.

The above-mentioned/further possibilities of presenting images within the meaning of the present invention are known to the person skilled in the art.

The display 3 and the light elements 4 are supported and positioned and/or moved in space via stored or transmitted position information data by the unmanned autonomous vehicle. The system 1 according to FIG. 1 has three unmanned autonomous transport vehicles, which are configured as landcraft 5. Such a landcraft 5 is schematically detailed in FIG. The display 3 of the landcraft 5 is oriented parallel to a substantially horizontal image plane 6 in the operating position. Furthermore, the displays 3 of the landcraft 5 are walkable by humans, whereby the stage assembly 20 of each display 3 or several displays 3 forms an accessible and/or walkable stage 7. be able to. The display 3 can be configured as an integral part of the housing 14 of the landcraft 5 and/or to be weatherproof. The landcraft 5 can be configured as an autonomously driven robot transport and/or with mecanum wheels 17, so that the robot transport can move around without having to take into account a "turning circle" It can move autonomously in all directions. The landcraft 5 may further have orientation means, e.g. pneumatic pistons (not shown) for lifting and lowering, in order to align the orientation of the display 3 with the image plane 6, thereby, e.g. compensating for sloping ground. can do.

Furthermore, the system 1 according to FIG. 1 has three unmanned autonomous aerial vehicles, so-called UAVs 8. The UAV 8 can be a multicopter (eg, an "optocopter" with eight rotor units) or a "quadcopter" with four rotor units, with virtually any number of rotor units being possible. Alternatively or additionally, the system 1 can have at least one further transport from the list below. Unmanned aerial vehicles, in particular balloons or airships, or unmanned watercraft, in particular water drones, submarine drones or ocean buoys. All these different transporters of the system 1 can each have one or several displays, light elements or other units to support the entire optical image by the system 1.

The transport aircraft, i.e. the landcraft 5 and the UAV 8, comprises a control unit 9 for controlling the image information and moving the transport aircraft using a drive unit 11, for example an electric motor, via position information data. The control unit 9 may consist of several components, each component being configured to perform a function. In order to store location information and/or image information, the transport vehicle and/or control unit 9 can have a storage unit (not shown). In order to receive position information and/or image information, the transport aircraft and/or the control unit 9 can have a communication unit 12 . In order to determine and/or communicate position information, the transport vehicle and/or the control unit 9 can have at least one position sensor 13 .

The at least one position sensor 13 may be at least one from the list below. inertial measurement unit for path, distance and/or position, acceleration sensor, position sensor, capacitive sensor for path, distance and/or position, laser sensor for path, distance and/or position, path, distance, and/or confocal sensor systems for position, magnetically inductive distance sensors, Hall effect sensors for position, GPS receivers or equivalent satellite-based navigation systems, such as receivers for Galileo, GLONASS, or Beidou/Compass.

The system 1 according to FIG. 1 includes a ground-based control station 14 with a communication unit 15. The system 1 according to FIG. The control station 14 allows the transport aircraft, namely the landcraft 5 and the UAV 8, to be moved and to control the presentation of the respective image information on the display 3. Control station 14 thereby communicates with control unit 9 via communication units 12 and 15. Control station 14 may include at least one from the list below. PCs, laptops, tablet computers, and smartphones. Control station 14 can have at least one user interface through which a user (not shown) can control the vehicle and/or the image.

The user can manually initiate the execution of the presentation of image 2, for example via the user interface. Subsequently, execution of the presentation of image 2 is accomplished automatically. The position information and the image information are processed automatically, for example, by the control unit 9 and/or the control station 14 via program code.

The control unit 9 and/or the control station 14 moves the transport aircraft according to the position information, for example the image position 16a of the landcraft 5 in FIG. and is configured to present respective image information. Image information and position information are calculated by control station 14 and/or control unit 9 and optionally transmitted via communication units 12 and 15.

Alternatively or additionally, part or all of the image information and/or location information can be stored in a storage unit and processed by the control unit 9. Optionally, control station 14 is not required if all image and/or location information is stored in a storage unit of the transport vehicle.

In FIG. 1, image positions, e.g. 16a and 16b, are based on relative coordinates defined along three virtual spatial axes X, Y, and Z. This is particularly advantageous for indoor applications within buildings. Based on the position information, the transport aircraft is moved to an image position, for example 16a or 16b, which is calculated by the control station 14, the control unit 9 and/or the position sensor 13, for example an inertial measurement unit. In the following, the transport aircraft can move along a spatial or temporal sequence of image positions, which can be based on a predetermined route or a predetermined "path".

Alternatively, the location information may be absolute coordinates, eg, Global Positioning System (GPS)-based coordinates, eg, data in GPS exchange format (GPX). Data in GPX format may include geodata, ie, geographic coordinates latitude, longitude, and altitude. Alternatively, the data may also be based on Galileo, GLONASS, Beidou/Compass, or any other satellite-based navigation and/or time system, or on a local or building-based navigation system. For this purpose, the transport aircraft can use a position sensor 13 of the type described above in order to constantly compare the current position or image position of the transport aircraft with a predefined position or image position.

The image position may be spatially static, meaning that the position information during the presentation of image 2 or after the transport vehicle has reached the image position, respectively, contains only static information. . In this way, the transporter maintains the image position during the entire presentation of image 2. Alternatively, the position information can have dynamic information, meaning that one, some or all image positions change during the presentation of the image 2. Alternatively, location information can include static and dynamic information.

The image information may only have static information, meaning that the display 3 displays the same image 2, for example a picture, or the same part of the image 2 during the entire presentation of the image 2. Alternatively, the image 2 can have dynamic information, for example a video, an animation. The display 3 may then display, for example, a particular part of the image 2 or a particular frame at a particular time. Alternatively, image 2 may be a combination of one or several images and one or several videos.

The display content of one, several or all displays 3 can be dependent on or tailored to the image position, such that the display content of the display 3 depends on the associated transport aircraft. It may be based on the location information and/or the location information of further transport vehicles of the system 1. For example, the display content of one, several or all displays 3 may each be only a specific part of the image 2, and this specific part displayed by the display 3 is located at the current image position. Dependent. Thus, the landcraft 5 may, for example, appear to be "moving through the image" and the display 3 of the landcraft 5 is apparently "moving through the image plane 6", respectively currently associated with the image position. shows that part of image 2.

The image information and the position information can be calculated and/or transmitted substantially in real time, thereby ensuring smooth communication and optionally information regarding the image position and/or information regarding the displayed portion of the image 2. can be updated at a given point in time, for example, via scheduled or unscheduled changes in image position.

The control station 14 and/or the control unit 9 is additionally configured to transmit time code signals via the communication unit 12 and/or 15 in order to perform time code synchronization of the image information and/or the position information. can do. This is particularly important when the image information and location information include a combination of dynamic location information and dynamic image information. Based on the actual time code signal, the respective control unit 9 determines which image information, for example which frame of video data, is to be displayed on the display 3. In addition, time code synchronization between individual transport vehicles can be realized, especially in the absence of a control station 14. Alternatively, timecode synchronization can be obtained by reading timecode from a global timecode synchronization source available on all vehicles, such as GPS or DGPS. Alternatively, timecode synchronization can be obtained by first manually synchronizing all vehicles.

In an alternative embodiment, the transport aircraft forms at least one formation flight configuration. For this purpose, the transport aircraft can have a formation flight configuration control unit (not shown) and a position sensor 13, in particular a plurality of distance sensors, the position sensor 13 being permanently connected to the adjacent transport Detects distance to aircraft virtually in real time. These formation flight configuration control units can communicate with the transport aircraft control unit 9 or may be integrated into the transport aircraft control unit 9. The control station 14 and/or the control unit 9 can then update the position and/or image information substantially in real time via the feedback of the position sensor 13 and move the transport aircraft according to the formation flight configuration intelligence. can be done. Those skilled in the art will know the basic principles of formation flight configuration intelligence.

The display 3 of the landcraft 5 preferably has an equilateral polygonal geometry. By means of the landcraft 5 and the control unit 9 at least two of these displays 3 can be moved to one seamlessly parqueted stage assembly 10 in which the displays 3 are accessible and/or form a walkable stage 7. An example of such a stage assembly 10 with seamless parquet that can be obtained using the landcraft 5 of the system according to the invention is shown in FIGS. 3A to 3F. In that regard, the display 3 has a geometry in the image plane 6 of an equilateral triangle 3a, a regular hexagon 3b, a rhombus 3c, a square 3d and/or a rectangle 3e. The displays 3a, 3b, 3c, 3d and/or 3e form a stage 7 that a person can approach/walk on and that is oriented substantially horizontally and parallel to the image plane 6. Alternatively or additionally, several movable and changeable interactive stages 7 can be formed, which stages can be approached or walked by, for example, people and artists, the images 2 For example, image 2 "reacts" to the person's movements.

It is further noted that the system according to the invention can also be used for other applications, for example rescue missions. The unmanned landcraft 5 and/or the UAV 8 may be configured with a display 3 and/or a light element 4 for signaling or displaying information to an endangered and/or injured person. An unmanned water vehicle (not shown) can be moved to an accessible platform in accordance with the above description in order to seek help and/or provide a temporary floating life raft to an injured person. The display 3 according to the invention makes it possible to form a rescue platform on the water.

Claims (9)

A system (1) for displaying an optical image (2) by an unmanned autonomous transport vehicle, the system comprising:
Each transport vehicle has a display for displaying at least a part of said image (2) with stored or transmitted image information, as well as a control unit (9), said control unit (9) and configured to move the transport aircraft using a drive unit (11) according to stored or transmitted position information;
At least two transport vehicles are configured as landcraft (5), the display (3) of the landcraft (5) in the operating position being oriented parallel to a substantially horizontal image plane (6), configured as an accessible display (3) ,
A system (1) characterized in that at least one landcraft (5), preferably all landcraft (5), have orientation means for aligning the orientation of said display (3) with said image plane (6). ). the display (3) of the landcraft (5) has an equilateral polygonal geometry and is parqueted in at least one substantially seamless manner by the landcraft (5) and the control unit (9); 1 . The stage assembly ( 10 ) according to claim 1 , wherein the display ( 3 ) forms at least one accessible and/or walkable stage ( 7 ). System (1) described in . The system (1) according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the display (3) in the image plane (6) has a regular hexagonal (3b), an equilateral triangular (3a) and/or a rhombic (3c) geometry. ). Said system (1) comprises a control station (14), said control station (14) configured to move said transport vehicle and/or control said image information, said control unit (9) and/or said control station (14) is configured to control said image information based on said location information of an associated transport vehicle and/or based on said location information of a further transport vehicle. The system (1) according to any one of Items 1 to 3. The position information and the image information are temporally variable information, and the control unit (9) and/or the control station (14) substantially change the image information through a change in the position information. System (1) according to claim 4, configured to control in real time. A system (as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 5), wherein the display (3) is an integral part of the housing (14) of the landcraft (5) and/or is configured to be weatherproof. 1). Any of claims 1 to 6, wherein at least one landcraft (5), preferably all landcraft (5), is configured as a robotic transport and/or with mecanum wheels (17). System (1) described in . The at least one transport vehicle is configured as an unmanned aerial vehicle, in particular a UAV(8)/drone, a balloon, or an airship, and/or the at least one transport vehicle is configured as an unmanned watercraft, in particular a water drone, a submarine drone, or System (1) according to any of claims 1 to 7 , configured as a marine buoy. The transport aircraft forms at least one formation flight configuration, and the control unit (9) and/or the control station (14) controls the transport aircraft in a formation flight configuration, in particular by a formation flight configuration control unit of the transport aircraft. System (1) according to any of claims 4 to 8 , configured to move a machine.